Editor’s note: Welcome to Inside Out, our weekly roundup of stories about Staten Islanders making waves, being seen, supporting our community and just making our borough a special place to live. Have a story for Inside Out? Email Carol Ann Benanti at benanti@siadvance.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Presentation Sisters will commemorate their 150th anniversary with a mass celebrated by Bishop Edmund Whalen in St. Ann R.C. Church in Dongan Hills, on Sunday, April 6 at 11 a.m.
The mission of the Presentation Sisters — officially known as the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — is to help the poor and needy around the world.
And the Sisters have officially launched their first “sesquicentennial” anniversary commemorative as they set forth their vision for the future.
THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENTATION SISTERS
Throughout the years the Sisters focused their energies on creating and staffing schools that would educate young people — with many still in operation across the globe.
The religious order of Roman Catholic women were founded in Cork Ireland by Honora “Nano” Nagle 1775.
It was a time when Irish Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion, acquire property or even receive any type of education. So Nagle’s parents sent her to France to be educated. Upon her return she would witness the cruel treatment of Irish Catholics.
As a result, she started what was called “hedge schools” — informal schools for the uneducated — and she became the head of seven schools, four for girls and three for boys.
THE PRESENTATION SISTERS WERE FOUNDED
Nagle would often visit the poor and infirm, and in time, along with three companions, she founded a religious congregation on Christmas Eve in the year 1775.
The new congregation was named the Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — what would later become The Presentation Sisters.
In 1874 the Presentation Sisters were invited by Pastor Arthur Donnelly to teach in St. Michael’s Parish in Manhattan. Pastor Donnelly also provided a vacation home for the Sisters on Staten Island in an area called Frost Farms.
Some 10 years later, children from St. Michael’s Parish, whose parents were ill or had died from deadly epidemics, were brought to Staten Island to be cared for by the Presentation Sisters in an orphanage by the name of St. Michael’s Home in Greenridge.
A SEPARATE COMMUNITY
In 1886 a small group of Sisters left Staten Island and started a Community in Fitchburg, Mass. and a few years later the Presentation Sisters on Staten Island became a separate community.
The Presentation Sisters at the former St. Michael's Home on Staten Island. (Courtesy/Presentation Sisters)Staten Island Advance
Some 35 years later, after hearing about the great work accomplished by the Presentation Sisters, Monsignor Joseph Farrell requested that they staff St. Ann’s school, his parish, to teach catechism classes.
A year later they began teaching at Our Lady Help of Christians School in Tottenville — and their work in the area of elementary education on Staten Island was becoming widespread.
Within 30 years, the Presentation Sisters were staffing 11 borough schools, namely, Our Lady Queen of Peace, St. Christopher, Our Lady Help of Christians, St. Ann, St. Clare, St. Sylvester, St. Margaret Mary, Immaculate Conception, St. John Baptist de la Salle (later consolidated with Immaculate Conception, St. Teresa and St. Paul — and one in Manhattan,
In 1945, because so many Sisters were teaching, Mount St. Michael’s Home was passed on to the Sisters of Mercy and the Presentation Sisters then moved the Motherhouse called Hormann’s Castle on Grymes Hill.
Sadly, the orphanage closed in 1978.
THE RELOCATION OF THE MOTHER HOUSE
Then in 1965, because of certain inadequacies at the facility, the Motherhouse was relocated to Woodrow Road.
The Sisters have literally come full circle on Staten Island. The property on Woodrow Road is adjacent to the property of Mount St. Michael’s — the area where they were originally housed.
The exterior of St. Michael's Home in Greenridge. (Courtesy/Presentation Sisters)Staten Island Advance
In 1962, when Cardinal Francis Spellman asked the Sisters to staff a high school on Staten Island, Countess Moore High School for Girls — now Moore Catholic High School and now co-educational — opened its doors.
As the population on Staten Island increased and changes in dynamics became apparent, the Presentation community and the Sisters adapted.
They remained in seven of the schools and became involved in pastoral care.
Their mission was carried out in the parishes, of Holy Rosary, Holy Child and St. John Neumann.
The Sisters also served at Villanova University as well as Presentation College in South Dakota.
In 2010, the Sisters moved into a new Motherhouse on Woodrow Road, as the original house was in need of extensive repairs.
On Saturday Oct. 9, 2010, the Sister’s Convent was dedicated by Rev. Robert Dillon who was joined by priests who were friends of the community.
As years passed and new adventures unfolded, the Sisters would share their Chapel with surrounding area residents.
So, through the efforts of Sister Rosemary Ward and Father Dillon, they established a noon day Mass, which was open to the public until only a few years when COVID-19 was running rampant.
The Sisters were still active in the community and lent a helping hand at St. Margaret Mary and St. John Villa, as well as serving on the Staten Island Ecumenical Council and offering classes for the Catechetical Office of the Archdiocese of New York.
STILL ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY
The Sisters remain active in the community and through charitable causes they travel in their answer to be of service wherever needed and follow Nagle’s call for “not words but deeds.”
Sister Janet, a Presentation Sister, commented that though the community today is a smaller older group of sisters, they still continue the spirit of Foundress Nano Nagle to “answer the cries of the poor in these times.”
“We do not know the future, but we move with a listening heart,” she said. “Although we are not teaching in the Staten Island schools any longer, we continue to help the poor in any capacity that we can. Just as our Foundress walked the lanes and byways of her day, we continue our journey.”
Today, the Presentation Sisters are active in 19 countries: Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Ecuador, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
CELEBRATIONS - MARCH 16 TO MARCH 22
MARCH 16
Birthday greetings Sunday to Flo Feith, Carmine DeSantis Jr., Jacki Foley Kelly, Stuart Price, Walter LaBetti and Patty LaGrotta, who turns 70.
MARCH 17
Happy St. Patrick’s Day birthday on Monday to Glen Patrick Powell, Joseph Gardiner who turns 26, Victoria Rae Parnese turns 21, Richard Kavanagh, Kathy D’Agostino and Patrick Gordon.
MARCH 18
Happy birthday Tuesday to New York State Supreme Court Justice Ralph J. Porzio, to Ashley Maloy, who’s now 21, to Dina Fleming, Bob Isola, Colleen Ryan, Sabato Conte, Stephen Castella Sr., Lauren Sklenar, Rocco Montali and triplets Scott, Cody and Sean Fox.
Happy eighth wedding anniversary Tuesday to Lauren and John Paul Giordanella.
MARCH 19
Happy St. Joseph’s Day birthday on Wednesday to former Staten Island First Lady Susan Lamberti, a Women of Achievement in the Class of 1986, to Anne Manna, to Karen Panarella, Anita Blasi, Kelly Stafford, Elene Pitelli, Peter Kruse, Jeffrey Scott Lee, Susan Andersen, John Crawford, Joy Truscelli, Jean Marshall and John Clark.
MARCH 20
The happiest of birthdays Thursday to humanitarian Vito Picone of Vito Picone and the Elegants, whose hit “Little Star,” topped the charts and earned a gold record in 1958, to Elissa Montanti, an Advance Woman of Achievement in the Class of 2011 and director of the Global Medical Relief Fund, Joan Grande, Barbara Nola, Fred Sklenar Jr., Noreen Lake, Genevieve Kindos, Frank Dina, Steve Kamvissis, and twins Joseph and Robert Sbarra.
MARCH 21
Friday is birthday time for Gabriela Palumbo, Joe Daly, Virginia Kemler, Robin Cutler, Rochelle Steinhaus, Gregg Engles, James Taylor, Samuel Mondello, Bill Baumwoll, Carmen Mottola and Ryan Clinton.
There will be double celebrations today for twins Robert and Ronald Kilichowski and Jessica and Kimberly Gershon.
MARCH 22
Birthday greetings on Saturday to Greg Kamback, John Denis Venturella, Robert Borik, Lindsay McMahon, Hannah Rose Deignan, Alfred Forestier, and Michael Brevetti.